India: Give up the fear of GM crops, says Indian farmer

The parliamentary committee report on genetically modified (GM) organisms is an attempt to give a quiet burial to biotechnology in India. On behalf of the farmers of India, let me say that this report totally fails to reflect farmers’ aspirations, and distorts the scientific significance of biotechnology – including genetic engineering – for the national economy. Instead, it echoes persistent canards by some environmental NGOs.

Indian farming suffers losses of up to Rs 1 lakh crore from pests and diseases annually, apart from natural calamities. Till the 1960s, India used only conventional breeding for seeds – but these traditional varieties were insufficient to feed the country, which became totally dependent on food aid from the US. Then came the Green Revolution which harnessed biotechnology. This saved India from starvation and made it a food exporter.

But the limits of the Green Revolution technology have been reached. We now need new kinds of biotechnology, including GM crops. The govern-ment has created the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) to regulate the entry of new GM crops.